WHAT IS THE HUMAN SPIRIT?

The Lord God Breathed the 'Breath of Life'
into Adam (Gen. 2:7), Job Confirms that there is a 'Spirit in
Man,' (Job 32:8) and Ecclesiastes Tells us that This Spirit
Returns to God When We Die (Ecc. 12:7)

But What Is This 'Spirit' (or, 'Soul') And
What Difference Does It Make?

ARTICLE QUOTE: 'It appears that this true essence
of the Holy Spirit joins Himself to our own human spirit in some
wondrous way which we cannot hope to understand while still in
the human flesh. Of course, we do not become perfect and we will
still make many mistakes but, perhaps, the fogs and mists caused
by human depravity start to clear even while we ourselves remain
partly subject to that depravity in our physical bodies and
lives.'

'Souls' in the New
Testament

Whereas most instances of 'soul' in the Old Testament are
simply from the Hebrew 'nephesh,' meaning 'life' and do not
necessarily tell us much about the spirit essence which God
placed in his human creation, in the New Testament (especially as
translated in the KJV and NKJV), all instances of soul are from
the Greek 'psuche.' This word accounts for the 57 occasions that
'soul' and 'souls' occur in the New Testament, and on almost
all of these occasions, it is indeed man's 'spirit essence'
which is being referred to. Matthew 10:28 is a good
example,

'Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill
the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul
and body in hell.' (Matthew 10:28, NIV).

'But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of
those who believe to the saving of the soul.' (Hebrews
10:39, NKJV).

In Revelation, the souls of departed true believers are pictured
in heaven:

'When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the
souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the
testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and
avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"'
(Revelation 6:9-10, NKJV).

So the Christian tendency to describe man's inner spirit, which
returns to God when we die, as 'soul' comes from the New
Testament usage of 'soul.'
Robin A. Brace, 2007.

I
n our consideration of this topic we should point out that
our consideration will be from the pespective of Christian
theology. There is one sort of view which speaks of 'the
triumph of the human spirit over adversity' - I think we
have all heard that type of comment; that is a general and
populist approach to the topic of "the human spirit."
But today we are not concerned with that particular view (a view
which is even held by some who do not believe in God but who use
the term purely metaphorically).

Neither will we be primarily concerned - here and now - with
the subject of the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Holy
Trinity who is so concerned with Creation and with human
Christian activity in the present world. This article will indeed
conclude with some comments about the Holy Spirit of God, but
that is not our main topic today.

But the Bible also speaks of 'spirit' purely in conjunction
with Man. Job spells it out and explains what it imparts:

'But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty,
that gives him understanding.' (Job 32:8).

So, according to the Word of God, human beings are not only
flesh and blood but also have this spiritual component, or
'spirit essence.' Job also confirms for us that this was imparted
with 'the breath of the Almighty.' This 'spirit' appears to be
responsible for that particular mental/emotional aspect of human
being and existence which is wholly immaterial: that is, this
'spirit' can never be 'counted,' 'added' or 'weighed up.' The
origin of 'spirit' in the Latin, Hebrew and Greek languages
always denotes: wind, breath, or, blowing. The Latin
noun 'spiritus' can describe vigour, breath, courage, as
well as 'soul' or life. 'Soul', by the way, is a little more
tricky; biblically it can refer to life or existence, as well as
referring to Man's spirit essence; even so, 'soul' has generally
been the preferred term among Christians for what we describe.
But in the Old Testament, 'soul' is most often translated from
'nephesh,' meaning 'life,' and does not necessarily tell us
anything about the 'human spirit.' (It is essential to also check out the
insert article 'Souls in the New Testament').

So 'spirit' essentially refers to the human properties of
inner consciousness, intellect, emotion, motivation, thinking,
planning, longing, and it empowers all such
intellectual/mental/spiritual properties; We could do none of
these things and have none of this inner mental/spiritual life
but for that spirit of life (translated as 'nasham' and 'ruach'
in the Hebrew, pneuma in the Greek), which the Lord breathed into
the nostrils of the First Man (Genesis 2:7). That 'breath' which
the Lord gave to the first couple comes from 'Nashamah' meaning
strong wind, blast, or inspiration. The Lord God had made Man
differently to the animals because He had designed us to function
'in the image of God' so we have this divine spark, if you will,
breathed into us by the Lord Himself. Animals just have 'life,'
(Hebrew: 'nephesh' first used of animals in Genesis 1:20), yes
that too is important and God-willed and grants every animal an
independent living existence. It is not quite accurate to say (as
some do) that animals cannot make choices. My cat (every single
time) would prefer to lie on our bed and go to sleep rather than
to go out if it is rainy outside. Oh yes, he is quite adept at
making that particular decision! Yet he cannot plan for the
future or enjoy listening to Bruckner's 8th symphony, or Dizzy
Gillespie's trumpet playing as I do. Instinct is largely the
order of the day, rather than intellect.

So the spiritual area of human life (and even the poets have
comprehended this) is that area concerned with feelings,
emotions, anger, intellect, inner passion, enthusiasm, fear,
turmoil and inspiration. None of this could ever be weighed up or
counted - it is nothing to do with human flesh! So - it might be
said - that something which those who believe in God (and to a
lesser degree, even poets!), have always understood, is only now
beginning to be unravelled and explained by scientists. Oh yes,
even Aristotle and much later, Descartes knew that the human mind
was immaterial, but science has largely been undecided!

Yet the Old Testament never tells us too much about this
'spirit' essence which resides in every human being, and when it
does, it often prefers to speak of the 'human heart.' This has
always been seen purely poetically until - just literally - the
last few years, when scientists have started to discover a very
close relationship between the heart, mind and brain. Again, new
knowledge to science - even when the Hebrews obviously already
knew about this thousands of years before Christ! (See Yes, the
Heart Really Can "Think"...)

But the New Testament starts to reveal to us that our 'human
spirit' - vital though it is, is not enough. Every man woman and
child ever born into this world has had this spirit. The
need is to receive the gift of God's Holy Spirit which
is available for truly meek God-believers who come to accept the
Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. So just as the human spirit
is 'divinely breathed' into the first humans in Genesis 2:7, the
Holy Spirit is 'divinely breathed' into the first disciples in
John 20:22 revealing that true believers are really part of a New
Creation. It appears that this true essence of the Holy Spirit
joins Himself to our own human spirit in some wondrous way which
we cannot hope to understand while still in the human flesh. Of
course, we do not become perfect and we will still make many
mistakes but, perhaps, the fogs and mists caused by human
depravity start to clear even while we ourselves remain partly
subject to that depravity in our physical bodies and lives. The
Holy Spirit starts to impart a small portion of the very mind of
God into these true believers. From small beginnings, such people
can, increasingly, then start to look at the problems of this
world and see the true divine solution - yes, not only
see it but become fully convinced that the divine
solution is the only true solution and realise that -
one day - a promised New Heavens and New Earth will make
the divine standard the only standard in the entire
universe.

It is really quite strange how the unconverted and carnal mind
(recipient of the 'human spirit' alone), looks at this world and
sees millions of problems and wonders how they could ever be
solved, but once that mind receives the Spirit of God,
he or she immediately perceives that this world does not have
millions of problems at all, but just one: sinful rebellion
against God! When that issue becomes resolved, all human problems
will vanish.